30 technologies ushering in the future for education

If the bright lights and casino bling of Las Vegas weren’t enough to dazzle conference-goers from around the world, the awe-inspiring displays of futuristic technology littering the Infocomm 2016 show floor certainly were, such as Epson’s trippy Infinity Room and LG’s mind-bending OLED curved tiling display.

Epson’s Infinity Room and LG’s curved display.

“We’ve seen a lot more traction with higher ed leaders, not just the typical IT folks,” said Tracie Bryant, VP of sales at AVI-SPL. “We already have thousands of pre-orders for our collaborative Microsoft 365-based surface hub. The investment in innovation is really taking off in higher education.”

Indeed, this year’s Infocomm was officially the largest on record: 1,000 exhibitors, including 211 new exhibitors, filled the Las Vegas Convention Center June 8-10, occupying 527,105 net square feet of exhibit and special events space—also a show record. Attendees registered for more than 12,000 seats at InfoComm University sessions throughout the week, more than double the number engaged in training and education in 2015. The show overall welcomed more than 38,833 visitors, 4.8 percent more than the last time the show was held in Las Vegas, affirming it as the best-attended annual conference and exhibition for AV buyers and sellers in the Western Hemisphere. More than 35 percent of attendees were visiting InfoComm for the first time.

Though many vendors offered a diverse multitude of AV solutions that could geek out even tech-phobic luddites, including some like Elmo’s next-gen portable collaboration Huddle Space that’s not even on the market yet, two AV technologies were the most touted among vendors and attendees alike: hardware and software-agnostic touchscreens, and live, on-demand video streaming technologies.

Elmo’s not-on-market Huddle Space.

“There are so many different live streaming technologies on show at this year’s Infocomm, so it’s never been more important for institutions to know how they differ to decide the best technology for their needs and mission,” explained Claudia Barbiero, director of marketing at LiveU. “The explosion of live, on-demand video services on campuses right now is really exciting because it’s moving past the sports events to innovative areas we never even thought of, like pop-up lectures and different aspects of online learning.”

From the editors of eCampus News and eSchool News, here are the 30 companies that displayed future-ready technologies at Infocomm 2016:

[Listed in alphabetical order]

The portable VoD streaming solution.

AVerMedia: AVerMedia Technologies displayed its latest HEVC encoding and streaming solutions, encompassing top-tier 4K HEVC/H.265 compression for UHD content to standard AVC/H.264 compression. The company’s professional products offer codec support and quality, while supporting multi-display streaming and processing. Their live encoders can ingest up to 4K content and simultaneously encode it into HEVC and H.264 streams, turning a single capture source into multiple output streams for a multitude of devices. Click here for the full news.

The software and hardware-agnostic touchscreen.

AVI-SPL: This collaboration tech solutions and AV systems integration company revealed its enhanced collaboration services designed to simplify the AV and IT convergence for end users. These features were the focus at AVI-SPL’s booth at InfoComm, highlighting added service capabilities to Virtual Meeting Rooms (VMR) including Unify ME, the global integrator’s interoperable VMR service. This includes “one-click” collaboration, meeting recording and streaming capabilities, Microsoft Exchange integration, as well as Symphony monitoring and management platform allowing organizations to measure the quality of the meeting experience. Click here for the full news.

A living lab.

Barco: The global provider of collaboration technology partnered with Televic Education, and ed-tech provider, to explore how technology can help educational institutions implement a whole new way of learning and teaching. Under the TECOL project (Technology-Enhanced Collaborative Learning), the three partners will set up a living lab at the KULAK campus. There, they will investigate the power of technology to foster interaction, collaboration and, as a result, student engagement in traditional classrooms, multi-site environments and virtual, worldwide classrooms. Click here for the full news.

BenQ-IFP-RP840G

BenQ: The RP Series interactive flat panels from BenQ feature full HD resolution and range in size from 65 to 75 inches. They include including 20-point multi-touch design, multi-platform compatibility with driver-free touch connectivity. Click here for the full news.

Bowling display layers images from two interactive short throw projectors.

Canon: Just prior to InfoComm, Canon released its REALiS WUX450ST Pro AV LCOS — a short throw projector (with a non-interchangeable lens) that includes native WUXGA resolution (1920 x 1200), 4500 lumens of brightness, and proprietary technology that helps project highly detailed/contrasted and color accurate images. A new single-chip DLP projector with a laser phosphor light source (up to 8,000 lumens in brightness) was also shown. Click here to read the full news.